Hanging out with Zac

On the way to Rachel's house for an Easter dinner, the boys were so excited to hang out with their Uncle Zac on the drive down to Sandy. They literally asked him questions non-stop, especially about his new job as a police officer. Zac explained to them what he does and Shad decided to put it into context when he said, "So, you're like the hall monitor of the streets". It was cute. The picture is kind of dark, but if you look you can tell how much they love being with Zac.

Disneyland

We made the trek down to Anaheim the second week of February for the kids' first trip to the Magic Kingdom.

On the way to CA, we stayed in Mesquite, NV. We hadn't been there before so we weren't too familiar with the area. Hopefully, the hotel would have a 20 story sign next to the freeway.....

Mesquite is pretty much what you'd get if you took Vegas and removed the high rollers, the mob, the money and CSI. The result is a glorified truck-stop with golf. It's kind of depressing.


We made it through the front gate:


Looking into the sun was too much for Harrison to take. Behind us, Walt is showing Mickey where the first churro cart will go from which Walt will turn reheated pastry, sugar and cinnamon into gold.


Leaving the real world (and any concept of what things cost in the real world) behind:


Shad keeping it real w/ Mr. Toad:


Probably one of the most enjoyable things for everyone was the Jedi Training Academy. At one of the pavillions, Jedi would come out, pick kids from the crowd and teach them an attack combination with a training lightsaber. It turns out to be an important exercise when some surprise guests arrive:


The kids then get a chance to fight against Darth Vader or Darth Maul. Shad fought against Darth Maul the first day but we had split up and didn't get many good pictures, though. Later in the week Shad and Harrison both got picked for the training:

I love this one w/ Harrison. He looks so little next to Darth Vader:


Here they are bringin' the pain to Darth Vader:



The boys liked meeting the different characters and getting their autographs:




Harrison w/ Ariel. She offered to give him a kiss but he wasn't too sure about that:









We all survived Splash Mountain:


After two trips down Grizzly River run we were soaked. It also happened to be the one day where the weather was cold and windy. Instead of buying the $10 ponchos at the shop next door, we toughed it out:


Harrison found the stash from the churro sales:


Feats of strength in Toontown:




Saying goodbye on our way out of town:



It was a really fun trip for everyone. Hopefully we'll be able to get back soon.

"Aaaaaaaaaand, we're back!"

So, it's obviously been quite a while and we've probably lost what few loyal readers we had. The marketing department is working on a reacquisition campaign for Q2 that we're really excited about. There's no campaign slogan yet but it'll have a "when you're at the office/home, check this out instead of doing your work" feel too it.

Since the first part of February we've been going almost non-stop so the lack of updates hasn't been total neglect. Our trip to Disneyland was "off the chain" as the kids say (not our kids, but 'kids'). Pics and a recap are forthcoming. For real. I swear. I've endured too much harassment about not updating this blog to NOT put them up.

We finally got an offer for our house (YAY!!!!) and had to move everything out (BOOOO!!!!!) before the sale closed a couple weeks ago. We had moved what we thought was most of the stuff out last fall when we first put the house up but as we got into the 'final' move it seemed like more stuff would appear for everything we put in storage/donated/took to the dump. The whole thing was starting to make Sisyphus' problem look like a minor annoyance. With some very much appreciated help, we (well, mostly Shaan) were able to get everything out and cleaned up. We were really glad to have that finalized and off our minds.

Sprinkled in these periods were some work trips to Dallas for me which slowed the progress at home. Shaan got to come with on one of the short trips so that was good for both of us. The boys have still been doing their karate, Shad's started Cub Scouts and been working on his piano lessons and soccer's started back up also. Shaan's been putting her usual long hours and extra dedication into teaching the students in her class. It's extra time consuming since she moved 'up' to 1st grad this year, but she's doing a great job.

The new house has come along quite a bit. It's all pretty much been inside, though and we haven't gotten a lot of pictures of it. It looks like it'll be done by May so it'll be great to have that completed.

Finally, this post is coming to you live from Bangalore, India. I've been here for a couple weeks for work (with 'only' three more to go!!!). Flying over in first class was pretty much the sweetest thing ever but the joyride was definitely over when we got off the plane. I forgot the cable for the camera and haven't found a way to upload the pics from the camera yet so I'll post about the trip after I get back. The people are very friendly and especially at work they've been great to work with. I'll just mention this from a commercial that's running for an electrical equipment company over here. The tagline on their ad is: "Wires that don't catch fire". As solid a selling point as I've ever heard. Maybe I'll hire their ad company for the reader reacquisition campaign!